The plethora of rules and regulations defining Tax Law and the U.S.
Federal Income Tax structure makes it essential that business managers and
individuals have rapid access to tax forms and publications.
Procurement of Federal tax forms and publications in the past by
individuals and small business owners often proved both difficult and time
consuming. That is no longer the case.

You can now utilize your computer, printer and internet connection to
conveniently download or print virtually all IRS Federal tax forms and
publications directly from the Internal Revenue Service website. IRS tax
forms are accessible in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). IRS
PDF forms are fill-in forms, enabling you to type your
information right into the form, and are further enabled with document
rights, permitting you to save what you have typed onto your computer
hard drive. (NOTE: You must use the Save function of
Adobe Reader rather than your browser’s save button, or you
will lose your work!) If you do not have Adobe Reader installed on
your computer, you can download it for free directly from this page or from
the IRS website.

In an effort to make IRS publications
Section 508
compliant, the IRS now offers some publications in both HTML and
Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). Also offered are talking tax
forms, which work with MSAA (Microsoft® Active
Accessibility®) compliant screen readers as well as with Dragon
NaturallySpeaking voice recognition software.

IRS tax forms and publications can still be ordered for delivery by mail,
and can also be ordered on the
IRS Tax Products CD. The CD may not be a
desirable option for most individuals, as it costs $35.00 if ordered via
the IRS website and $40.00 if ordered by phone, snail mail or fax.

Authored by Kenneth L. Anderson.
Original article published 12 January 2004, updated 4 May
2007.